HOPE
EDITION 2020 NewAUTUMN Year Edition 2021
Construction of Pakistan’s Biggest Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre Gets Underway in Karachi Construction work for the new Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC), Karachi, delayed earlier in the year by the COVID-19 pandemic, re-started in September 2020. Work is underway at full pace, and we estimate that construction work will be complete in just over two years, Inshallah. According to the World Health Organization, there are over a hundred and seventy thousand new cancer cases in Pakistan each year. The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centres (SKMCH&RC) in Lahore and Peshawar continue to provide financially supported treatment to over 75 percent of cancer patients admitted for treatment each year. However, the huge number of new cancer patients each year
HOPE-New Year Edition 2021
means that we are able to serve only a proportion of those suffering from cancer in Pakistan. The treatment of cancer is often a long and arduous process, with many patients having to make repeated, and expensive, trips over long distances in order to seek treatment. Successful completion of treatment is followed by several years of further visits for follow-up. It is for this reason that our second hospital was constructed in Peshawar, and this is why we have now turned to Karachi, where construction of the third SKMCH&RC will hugely enhance the country’s capacity to treat cancer and provide access to cancer care for ever-increasing numbers of patients. The hospital in Karachi will be the largest tertiary-care cancer centre in Pakistan, with state-of-the-art cancer diagnosis and treat-
ment facilities available under one roof. SKMCH&RC, Karachi, will serve all of Sindh, as well as Southern Baluchistan, and will help to bring cancer care closer to our patients.
patient examination rooms, a sixty-nine bed chemotherapy facility, two hundred and eighty eight inpatient beds, sixteen operation theatres, and twenty-four intensive care beds.
The new Hospital will be located in DHA City, on twenty acres of land. The project is expected to be commissioned in less than three years, at a total cost of Rs. 13 billion. It will open as a fully -functional cancer hospital, with all clinical disciplines in place, and equipped with the latest technology, including state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities as well as the latest in treatment planning and delivery systems. SKMCH&RC in Karachi, at one million square feet of constructed area, is twice the size of the hospital in Lahore, and will have forty-seven out
We are committed to providing the best possible care to all our cancer patients and, in line with this vision, we plan to equip the Karachi hospital not only with CT, MRI and PET-CT scanners, but also with a PET-MR system. This new form of hybrid imaging technology, a first for Pakistan, allows diagnosis that is more accurate, with the greater safety and convenience of two scans in one. This commitment to remaining at the cutting edge of technology will help ensure that we continue to enhance our capacity to treat cancer for the entire region.
SKMCH&RC, Lahore Participates in a Global, Multi-Centre Phase III COVID-19 Vaccine Trial We are proud to announce that Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, Lahore has been chosen to participate in a global, multicentre phase III trial for a novel vaccine against Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). As we have all come to learn, COVID-19 is a new disease, with no known prevention or cure at the current time. As the world continues to grapple with the many devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine development holds out one of the main hopes for the world to get back to normality. The availability of a safe, reliable and affordable vaccine will allow us to continue our fight against cancer without the disruption caused by this pandemic. For this reason, SKMCH&RC is honoured to be able to contribute towards one of the most important aspects of research
about COVID-19, which is the quest for a potent vaccine. The candidate vaccine (Adenovirus Type 5-vectored vaccine) has been shown to be safe and efficacious during the initial stages of research (Phase I and II trials). This is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, adaptive designed phase III clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine in adults who are eighteen years of age and older, without a prior history of COVID-19. The study aims to recruit thirty thousand participants globally, including ten thousand participants from Pakistan, and we encourage healthy individuals to volunteer to participate in this vaccine trial and become a part of our efforts against COVID-19.
Exchange of Knowledge Continues Despite the COVID-19 Pandemic The 19th Annual Shaukat Khanum Cancer Symposium was held in collaboration with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) from November 6th to 8th, 2020. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the symposium was organised as a virtual event, so as to ensure the continued exchange of ideas and informa-
tion related to cancer care in these extraordinary times. Nearly 150 national and international speakers took part in this leading regional cancer meeting, attended by more than 3,500 professionals this year, including leading researchers, scientists and practitioners from across the world.
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust and Greenstar Social Marketing sign MoU to Spread Awareness on Breast Cancer Since 1995, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust has conducted high-visibility breast cancer awareness campaigns throughout the country, during the month of October to mark international breast cancer awareness month. As part of the awareness campaign this year, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust (SKMT) and Greenstar Social Marketing Pakistan (GSM) signed a memorandum of understanding under the terms of which SKMT will provide training to female medical staff at Greenstar on breast
self-examination, so that they can then educate the wider public, utilising their extensive network, about the importance of early detection of breast cancer. GSM staff will also be able to distribute printed materials on breast cancer, developed by SKMT, at their locations. It is hoped that this joint advocacy effort will help in spreading Shaukat Khanum’s message about breast cancer awareness at the grass-roots level.
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